Chapter 20
The gamjatang arrived almost immediately.
Impressively fast enough to be called fast food.
"After that surgery, apparently things got weird in the department. Not just Jaecheol. Everyone says Professor Kang started tearing into all the residents the very next day. Like someone touched something they weren't supposed to touch."
"Is Jaecheol okay?"
"Yeah. But he's watching himself carefully. Whenever your name comes up, he changes the subject."
"I see."
"Oh, and do you know about Pandora Box?"
"Pandora Box?"
"Someone recorded you doing CPR in the market on their phone and uploaded it. The views are insane. It even got a small newspaper article. They called you the 'beautiful female doctor.'"
Gain lowered the pork bone she was holding.
"...Did they mention my name?"
"No. No name. No hospital. Your face is blurry too. But what happened afterward is the problem. Reporters started calling the hospital's PR office asking if the doctor in the video was from Hanguk University. The administration reported it to the higher-ups."
Jihu lowered his voice.
"That happened the same week your ethics review was proposed. Think about it. On one side, paperwork was circulating to discipline this doctor. On the other, reporters were calling around looking for the 'hero doctor.' The higher-ups must've lost their minds. People are saying that's why Professor Kang has been in such a terrible mood lately."
So that was it.
Gain took a spoonful of broth.
Public opinion had power.
Back when priests wanted to burn the Saintess at the stake, the thing they feared most wasn't doctrine.
It was the will of nobles and commoners.
I never asked for it, but it'll help.
Gain nodded.
"Ah, I think it's ready now."
She picked some crown daisy from the bubbling gamjatang and took a bite.
The fragrant vegetable flavor filled her mouth.
More than anything, the spicy red Korean broth made her happy.
Large chunks of pork clinging to the bones had absorbed the broth and became tender and chewy.
This is how gamjatang is supposed to taste.
Uncastrated pigs smelled.
And pork from animals that ate weeds and strange scraps instead of the grain humans ate often tasted strangely similar to whatever they'd been fed.
This was knowledge Gain wished she'd never learned.
Korean pork tasted and smelled completely different from pork in the other world.
And much better.
For a while, both of them were silent as they enjoyed the food.
Then Jihu spoke.
"I never imagined you'd be the first one among us to open a clinic. Seriously. Congratulations again."
"Thanks."
Jihu sighed.
"So many OB-GYN clinics are closing these days... Never mind. You'll probably do fine."
Saintess.
Saintess.
Director.
Director.
Gain suddenly realized how refreshing it was to have a simple conversation with someone who treated her as an equal.
"Thanks for coming. Get home safely."
After sending Jihu away, Gain returned to her small clinic and went upstairs to sleep.
Once things settle down, I should fix this room up properly.
The secondhand furniture she'd bought a few days earlier was doing its job.
An old folding sofa bed.
A worn desk.
A used office chair.
Everything looked shabby.
But Gain loved the synthetic leather, plastic materials, and ergonomic design.
Those mahogany chairs covered in ridiculous carved patterns were incredibly uncomfortable.
A wheeled office chair was the best.
Add an old laptop on the desk and it was an excellent workspace.
She also loved the large window overlooking the market.
Before dawn the next day, Gain sat alone and looked at the envelope on the desk.
She wanted to examine the documents Jihu had brought her.
[Regarding Unauthorized Medical Practice by a Person Who Expressed Intent to Resign]
[Regarding Unauthorized Medical Practice]
[Regarding Performance of an Unapproved Surgical Procedure]
How considerate.
Gain's lips curved slightly.
Unauthorized.
Unapproved.
The meaning was obvious.
The chart itself made it clear the patient might have died if Gain hadn't acted.
Yet they were desperately searching for something to use against her.
Even so...
She was angry.
Kang Juhan and Oh Seongmin were despicable.
Trying to accuse a doctor of a crime for saving someone's life was disgusting.
Oh Seongmin.
Gain set the envelope down and picked up her phone.
If you ever need legal advice, or anything at all, please call me.
The business card of the guardian who had visited the clinic a few days ago.
Kwon Taeseong.
Gain had assumed she'd never need to contact him.
It feels a little strange asking him about something like this.
While Gain hesitated, the clinic phone rang.
"Hello, this is Kwon Taeseong."
Surprisingly, it was the exact person Gain had just been debating whether to call.
The Presiding Judge of the Seoul Central District Court.
"I wanted to ask you for a little advice."
"Go ahead."
"Ah... thank you for answering so late. I wasn't sure who else to ask."
"Yes."
"Our baby has these tiny white bumps all over the face. The baby doesn't seem to be in pain."
"Ah."
"Should we go to the hospital? Could it be something serious?"
Gain, who had briefly feared another emergency, smiled.
"It's just keratin trapped beneath the skin. They're milia. They'll appear naturally and disappear on their own after a while."
A relieved sigh came through the phone.
"That's good."
"Actually, there's something I'd like to ask you too."
Gain began speaking.
Time passed.
The day of the Hanguk University Hospital Ethics Committee hearing arrived.
Main building, seventh floor.
Outside the joint meeting room of the Medical and Ethics Committee.
Gain checked the documents in her envelope one last time.
A copy of the Human Resources Committee's official reply.
Article 9 of the Emergency Medical Services Act.
Hospital Regulation Article 31.
An excerpt from the emergency surgery policy.
Six copies.
One for each committee member.
Oh Seongmin's muffled voice could be heard through the door.
Permanent exclusion.
Notification to the medical society.
A few words were enough for Gain to understand what was happening inside.
They'd already written the verdict.
Now they were attaching reasons afterward.
This makes my second heresy trial.
In the other world, the religious court had a stake waiting outside for execution by fire.
Compared with that...
This ethics committee was nothing.
Gain quietly opened the door.
Six pairs of eyes turned toward her at once.
The medical director sat at the head.
Three department heads.
The nursing director.
An external attorney.
And Oh Seongmin at the petitioner's seat.
His mouth fell open in surprise.
You didn't think I'd come.
Gain gave him a polite smile.
The medical director spoke instead of the speechless Oh Seongmin.
"You're late, Dr. Im."
"I have three things to say."
Gain didn't sit.
She slid the first document toward the chair.
"First. My resignation was not accepted by the Human Resources Committee. This is the official reply from HR. On the day of the incident, I was still a fourth-year OB-GYN resident at Hanguk University Hospital."
The stated basis of the complaint was:
'Unauthorized medical practice performed by a person who had already left the hospital.'
That premise no longer existed.
One.
"Second. I did not decide to bring the patient here. This hospital's emergency department informed 119 by radio that it could accept her. Because no guardian was present, consent for surgery was processed under Article 9 of the Emergency Medical Services Act and Hospital Regulation Article 31, with signatures from two medical professionals, Yuk Jaecheol and Kim Jaeheon. The relevant regulations are attached."
The papers passed around the table.
The attorney put down his pen and began reviewing them.
The nursing director compared the names on the signatures with her own copy and nodded slightly.
"Dr. Im."
Oh Seongmin slowly turned the pages.
His artificial smile had returned.
"Under normal procedure, you should have handed the patient over to the OB-GYN doctor on call and stepped away. Someone who had already expressed the intention to resign had no business taking up a scalpel."
"The OB-GYN doctor on call was absent."
"..."
"Kang Taehun was still returning from a regional conference. You were in another emergency surgery. At that moment, I was the only available OB-GYN doctor who could treat that patient. If there had been someone to hand the patient to, I would've handed her over."
Oh Seongmin's smile thinned.
Then...
"I'd like to confirm something."
The external attorney lifted one sheet.
It wasn't something Oh Seongmin had submitted.
At the start of the hearing, the committee office had automatically attached a standard set of records pulled from the medical-record department.
One of them was the operative report.
"The attached operative report lists the surgeon as 'Kang Taehun.' Yet this complaint states that Im Gain performed surgery without authority. The hospital's official record and the complaint contradict each other. Which version should this committee consider factual?"
Several people lowered their heads and examined the papers at once.
The nursing director, who had been nodding earlier, stopped.
The medical director belatedly flipped through his copy.
Oh Seongmin's eyes locked onto the operative report.
His smile vanished instantly.
Surprise flickered across his face.
The expression of someone seeing the document for the first time.
The moment was very brief.
Gain didn't miss it.
...He didn't know.
Gain took one slow breath.
This is the document I was waiting for.
From the copy Kwon Taeseong had obtained as the patient's guardian, Gain had already seen that one line.
That had been exactly what she asked him about during the phone call.
A medical record was not one document.
There was the operative report.
The anesthesia record.
The nursing record.
They were created by different people.
Stored by different departments.
That was why, when an accident occurred, all three were checked together to determine responsibility.
"Please review the surgeon fields on the anesthesia record and nursing record as well."
Gain's voice was quiet but strong.
"If only one of three documents is different, what this committee needs to investigate isn't my testimony. It's how that single document came to be written that way."
